An open letter to General Raul Castro from a Cuban opposition leader (Part 2)

On August 20, 2014 Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez" made public an open letter to Raul Castro in which he denounced fraudulent reforms, and the murders of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero in Cuba and declared that national reconciliation necessitates justice, freedom and democracy. In the video below Antúnez read aloud the letter. Below is the second part of Antúnez's letter titled: "No, no and no Raul Castro." Antúnez is a former political prisoner and currently a national opposition leader based in Placetas, Cuba.

Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez"

No, no, and no Raul Castro 

Mr. General, and now that you also self-title yourself President of the Councils of State and Ministers, I know well how many letters opponents have sent to you from inside and outside asking you to make reforms and a political opening as well as to convene elections. They ask as if you really were a president and as if in Cuba there was in power a real government and not a tyranny. We know that at any moment, you Machiavellian and opportunistic henchman will accept what they ask for and conduct a popular consultation, i.e. sham elections under your control, where as in Venezuela the totalitarian ruling party continues in power. And it is not a secret, the desperate and cunning maneuvers you and your acolytes perform to manufacture supposed opponents assuring with them the dynastic and ideological succession.

But be forewarned General, and is one of the reasons for this letter, that we, honorable and committed to the future of our country, Cubans are not going to accept that fraudulent and cosmetic change that you are concocting. Know also that the Cuban Resistance does not expect or want reforms implemented by the criminal tyranny over which you preside. The only reforms accepted by us are those that from following your ouster or abandonment of power are realized by the people from the bottom up.

Mr. dictator, enough tricks, that you will not serve a new term, that is not important to us. That you carry out reforms in the economic and immigration arena, that's a lot of lies, and it did not matter to us either. That your regime upgrade your model is another fallacy and lie. That's more of the same.
That monetary reform will come is a tremendous trick and a lie, General. We the people of Cuba, need a democratic system where a market economy prevails. One, two, three or a hundred thousand currencies do not matter, as long as there is a centralized and suffocating economy like your totalitarian system. We do not want with you Mr. dictator, reforms or openings, you are not our owners, nor should you dictate our guidelines.

We know that your time on earth is running out, and that powerful interests have shown the intention of pandering, or sharing huge profits at the cost of the pain and sacrifice of the Cuban people.
General Raul Castro, for warning about the danger of fraudulent change, you ordered the assassination of Oswaldo Payá and the young Harold Cepero. I doubt that you now have sufficient thugs to continue killing thousands and thousands who like Payá and Harold continue to denounce your tricks and continuity maneuvers.

For Laura Pollan, a defenseless woman, you sent your hired murderers to do away with her, because you could not defeat her in her Sunday marches on Fifth Avenue. It did not bother you that she was a woman and justice of her clamor. But Laura also defeated you, cowardly General, for her brave troops of the Ladies in White survived the cruel execution of their leader and is now spreading like patriotic wildfire throughout the Island.

Pedro Luis Boitel, Olegario Charlotte Pileta, Orlando Zapata, Wilman Villar, and many others, who had the courage to sacrifice themselves for the sake of freedom and respect for their dignity had already defeated you. Honor that both you and your thugs threatening to kill me in retaliation for my slogan “Neither will I fall silent nor will I leave Cuba." They themselves also just a few days ago, during one of the many arrests of those that I have been victimized, they tortured and beat me, since according to them and you, I sabotage the attempts of your tyranny to normalize relations with the United States.

Please know General Raul Castro that neither the absurd injunction of house arrest that weighs against me and the obvious threat of being killed, will make me change in my purpose that is that of thousands of Cubans. You will not be able to, Raul Castro; you cannot subdue a people who are tired of living without freedom, as you can not realize the international effort that is brewing against the cause of freedom in Cuba. That plot, Raul Castro, will not succeed, whether it comes from Havana, from Washington, from Brussels, or even from Vatican City. They won’t be able to, General, because I know that both you, your family, and that cruel and bloody Party, will be excluded from any process of democratic change as they signify the negation of democracy itself.

And tell your subordinates, General, I'm here and will be here in my beloved homeland of Placetas from which you will not take me out neither your repressive forces or you yourself, or anyone, and that my humble abode, though desecrated, vandalized and looted by your entourage will remain a bastion of resistance, struggle, shelter and sanctuary for my countrymen who fight against you and in favor of freedom and justice. And tell them also General, your promoters and cronies, your spokesmen be they in Miami, in Washington, in Brussels, in Havana, or the Vatican itself not to continue rubbing their hands. We say no to continuity because here in Cuba there will not be reconciliation without there first being justice, freedom and democracy.

And as presentiment also tell some governments that call themselves democratic and which are within the plot, that they are wasting their time General, that the fact that Cubans need and hope for international solidarity, that does not mean that one country or foreign power, no matter how powerful or influential will be part of our process of change, because Cubans, those inside and those outside, are convinced that the solution of Cuba must and should be resolved between Cubans, exempting you and yours of course General, that for the damage you and yours have done to our nation, do not even deserve to be called Cubans.

Raúl Castro Ruz, on behalf of the people of Cuba, my fellow prisoners, and the victims of your dictatorship, I tell you no, no and no.

From Placetas, in the center of Cuba Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”, who “Neither will I fall silent nor will I leave Cuba." 20 de agosto de 2014.

Human Rights in Cuba: An endangered species

Human rights under siege in Cuba for over five decades

Human Rights Defenders in Cuba are a suspect class defined as mercenaries by the regime and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which the Cuban government was a signatory on December 10, 1948 is a subversive document to be confiscated. Thousands of Cubans have been arbitrarily detained in 2012 alone for trying to exercise their human rights. Human rights defenders have been killed while in regime custody or died under suspicious circumstances.

It would not be a stretch to say that human rights are an endangered species in Cuba. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a generation as "the average span of time between the birth of parents and that of their offspring." A generation is about 30 years.

Cuba has been under some form of dictatorship since March 10, 1952 and under a totalitarian dictatorship since January 1, 1959 that means for the past 61 years human rights have been systematically violated and for the past 54 years human rights discourse has been systematically removed from the public sphere.

This means that two generations of Cubans have been born and grown up in a society where human rights have essentially been unknown. There have been times, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s when one might have thought human rights in Cuba extinct.

They would be wrong. From inside of the prisons and at the margins of society old activists who remembered and revered the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and new generations of young activists, who although not knowledgeable of the history, found the desire for fundamental human rights hard wired in their conscience.

These factors led to the re-birth of Cuban civil society's defense of human rights in 1976 with formation of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights.

Over the next 37 years what began as a single organization formed behind prison walls and later situated in Havana grew into a nationwide movement and despite the brutal efforts of the dictatorship to destroy it - so far it has survived and thrived because human beings have an innate desire to be free and live with dignity. 

Despite the wishful thinking of the totalitarian despots in Cuba and their allies elsewhere: Cubans are human beings and have a right to their rights.

Courageous Cubans such as Jose Antonio Echeverria, Pedro Luis Boitel, Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, Mario de la Peña,Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, Armando Alejandre Jr.,Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Wilman Villar Mendoza, Juan Wilfredo Soto García, Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas, Laura Inés Pollán Toledo, Harold Cepero Escalante and many more have given their lives in struggle for human rights and freedom in Cuba.  

With their sacrifice the world can bear witness that although endangered the struggle for human rights in Cuba continues via nonviolent means.

Voices in Cuba such as the Cuban rock n roller Ciro Diaz understands this reality and the sacrifice carried out by many and wrote a song about it called "El Precio" (The Price).  Here it is: